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Flag Exercises 

for the 

Schools of the Nation 




Department of the Interior 
Bureau of Education 

1919 



WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1919 




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FLAG EXERCISES should be observed in each school in 
the land each day. They should be used as a means of 
developing love and admiration for America by telling of the 
noble things done and the noble things said by Americans. 
All should know what America is, how large, how beautiful, 
how varied in its resources, how its territory has been gained 
and what its people have done. The Flag means all these 
things and by taking thought the Flag can be used to teach 
not only patriotism but geography, history, biography, art, 
literature, economics and politics. These exercises may be 
varied from day to day, but each day there should be — 
i. Flag salute. 

2. Patriotic song. 

3. Patriotic recitation. 

4. Quotation for the week. 

ft ft 

I. Formation and Salute to Flag. 

(a) At three minutes to 9 o'clock the children assemble 
in front of the school, the classes forming a circle (or circles) 
about the flagpole or facing the building over which the 
vStars and Stripes are to float. The principal gives the order, 
"Attention!" or "Face!" The boys remove hats and the 
teachers and pupils watch the flag hoisted by two of the older 
boys. When it reaches the top of the flagpole, the principal 
gives the order, "Salute!" or three cheers may be given for 
the flag as it is being raised. 

n. of *. = 



PAGE TWO 



MAR -39:1915 



At 9 o'clock the pupils march to their classrooms to the 
beating of a drum or to some march played by the pianist or 
school band. 

On reaching their classrooms, the children may stand by 
their seats and repeat in concert the following salutation : 

the American's creed. 

I believe in the United States of America, as a government of the people, 
by the people, for the people, whose just powers are derived from the con- 
sent of the governed; a democracy in a Republic; a perfect Union, one and 
inseparable, established upon those principles of freedom, equality, jus- 
tice, and humanity, for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and 
their fortunes. 

I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its 
Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against 
all enemies. 

(Note. — The flag is dipped while the children raise the right hand, fore- 
finger extended, and repeat the pledge. When they salute, the flag is 
raised to an upright position.) 

Or 

. (b) All the children to be drawn up in line before the school 
building. 

A boy and a girl, each holding a medium-sized American flag, 
stand one on the right and one on the left of the school steps; 
boy on the right and girl on the left. The flags should be held 
military style. 

The children at a given signal by the principal or teacher in 
charge file past the flags, saluting in correct military manner. 
The boys to the right and the girls to the left, entering and 
taking their positions in the school. The flag bearers enter, re- 
maining in that position during the salutation and the recita- 
tion of The American's Creed (above). 

The flag bearers place the flags in position at the head of the 
school. The boy and girl who carry the flags should be chosen 
from among the pupils for good conduct during the hours of 
school, 

Or 

(c) Pupils, attention ! at chord on piano or organ, or stroke 
of drum or bell. 



87890°— 19 '• • PAGE THREE 



The teacher will call one of the pupils to come forward and 
stand at one side of desk while the teacher stands at the other. 
The pupil shall hold an American flag in military style. 

At second signal all children shall rise, stand erect, and salute 
the flag, concluding with the recitation of The American's Creed. 



ft ft 



II. Patriotic Songs. 



America. 

Star-Spangled Banner. 

Battle Hymn of the Republic. 

Yankee Doodle. 

Hail Columbia. 

Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean. 

My Own United States. 

Over There. 

Keep the Home Fires Burning. 



ft ft 



III. Suggested Recitations. 

FROM "MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY." 

By Edward Everett Hale. 

And for your country, boy, and for that flag, never dream a dream but 
of serving her, as she bids you, though the service carry you through a 
thousand hells. No matter what happens to you, no matter who flatters 
you or who abuses you, never look at another flag; never let a night pass 
but you pray God to bless that flag. Remember, boy, that behind all 
these men you have to do with, behind officers and governments, the 
people even, there is the country herself, your country, and that you 
belong to her, as you belong to your own mother. Stand by her, boy, as 
you would stand by your mother. 



PAGE FOUR 



LINCOLN'S GETTYSBURG SPEECH. 

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent 
a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that 
all men are created equal. 

Now we are engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether that nation, or 
any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met 
on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of 
that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that 
that Nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should 
do this. 

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can 
not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled 
here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The 
world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never 
forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated 
here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so 
nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task 
remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devo- 
tion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — 
that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — 
that this Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that 
government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish 
from the earth. — Abraham Lincoln. 



ft 



FROM PRESIDENT WILSON'S SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

These are the things we shall stand for, whether in war or in peace: 

That all nations are equally interested in the peace of the world and in 
the political stability of free peoples and equally responsible for their 
maintenance. 

That the essential principle of peace is the actual equality of nations in 
all matters of right or privilege. 

That peace can not securely or justly rest upon an armed balance of 
power. 

That governments derive all their just powers from the consent of the 
governed and that no other powers should be supported by the common 
thought, purpose, or power of the family of nations. 

That the seas should be equally free and safe for the use of all peoples, 
under rules set up by common agreement and consent, and that, so far as 
practicable, they should be accessible to all upon equal terms. 

That national armaments should be limited to the necessities of national 
order and domestic safety. — Woodrow Wilson. 



PAGE FIVE 



THE FLAG SPEAKS. 

I am whatever you make me, nothing more. 

I am your belief in yourself, your dream of what a people may become. 

I am all that you hope to be and have courage to try for. 

I am song and fear, struggle and panic, and ennobling hope. 

I am the day's work of the weakest man, and the largest dream of the 
most daring. 

I am the Constitution and the courts, statutes and the statute makers, 
soldier and dreadnaught, drayman and street sweep, cook, counselor, and 
clerk. 

I am the battle of yesterday, and the mistake of to-morrow. 

I am the mystery of the men who do without knowing why. 

I am the clutch of an idea, and the reasoned purpose of resolution. 

I am no more than what you believe me to be and I am all that you 
believe I can be. 

I am what you make me, nothing more. 

I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself, 
the pictured suggestion of that big thing which makes this Nation. My 
stars and my stripes are your dream and your labors. They are bright 
with cheer, brilliant with courage, firm with faith, because you have made 
them so out of your hearts. For you are the makers of the flag and it is 
well that you glory in the making. — Franklin K. Lane. 

\ 
THE NEW CRUSADE. 



Life is a trifle; 

Honor is all ; 
Shoulder the rifle; 

Answer the call. 
" A Nation of traders"! 

We'll show what we are, 
Freedom 's crusaders 

Who war against war. 

Battle is tragic ; 

Battle shall cease; 
Ours is the magic 

Mission of Peace. 

Gladly we barter 
Gold of our youth 

For Liberty's charter 
Blood-sealed in truth. 



"A Nation of traders"! 

We'll show what we are, 
Freedom 's crusaders 

Who war against war. 

Sons of the granite, 
Strong be our stroke, 

Making this planet 
Safe for the folk. 

Life is but passion, 

Sunshine on dew. 
Forward to fashion 

The old world anew! 
"A Nation of traders"! 

We'll show what we are, 
Freedom 's crusaders 

Who war against war. 

— Katherine Lee Bates. 



PAGE SIX 



THE SERVICE FLAG. 

Dear little flag in the window there, 
Hung with a tear and a woman's prayer; 
Child of Old Glory, born with a star — ■ 
Oh, what a wonderful flag you are. 

Blue is your star in its field of white , 
Dipped in the red that was born of fight; 
Born of the blood that our forebears shed 
To raise your mother, The Flag o'erhead. 

And now you've come, in this frenzied day, 
To speak from a window— to speak and say: 
! I am the voice of a soldier-son 
Gone to be gone till the victory's won. 

' I am the flag of The Service, sir, 
The flag of his mother — I speak for her 
Who stands by my window and waits and fears, 
But hides from the others her unwept tears. 

' I am the flag of the wives who wait 
For the safe return of a martial mate, 
A mate gone forth where the war god thrives 
To save from sacrifice other men's wives. 

' I am the flag of the sweethearts true ; 
The often unthought of — the sisters, too. 
I am the flag of a mother's son, 
And won't come down till the victory's won. " 

Dear little flag in the window there, 
Hung with a tear and a woman's prayer; 
Child of Old Glory, born with a star — 
Oh, what a wonderful flag you are. 

— William Herschell, in the Indianapolis News. 



PAGE SEVEN 



IV. Quotation for the Week. 

On each Monday morning a new text should be introduced 
in a brief talk by the teacher, written on the board, and during 
the week repeated by the pupils each day. 

The union of hearts, the union of hands, and the flag of our Union for- 
ever. — G. P. Morris. 

One flag, one land, one heart, one hand, one nation evermore. — Holmes. 

Our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived 
in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created 
equal. — Abraham Lincoln. 

Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable. — Daniel 
Webster. 

Let our object be our country, our whole country, and nothing but our 
country. — Daniel Webster. 

You can not, my lords, you can not conquer America. — Wm. Pitt, Earl of 
Chatham. 

I call upon yonder stars which shine above to bear witness that Liberty 
can never die. — Victor Hugo. 

We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred 
honor. — Thomas Jefferson (Declaration of Independence). 

Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of 
war may soon pass away. — Abraham Lincoln. 

I know not what course others may take; but, as for me, give me liberty 
or give me death. — Patrick Henry. 

Breathes there a man with soul so dead 
Who never to himself hath said, 
" This is my own, my native land!' * 
Whose heart hath ne 'er within him burned 
As home his footsteps he hath turned, 
When wandering on a foreign strand ? 

— Sir Walter Scott. 

Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof. — 
Inscription on Liberty Bell. 

A man's country is not a certain area of land, but a principle, and patriot- 
ism is loyalty to that principle. — George William Curtis. 



PAGE EIGHT 



With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, 
as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in ; 
to bind up the Nation's wound; to care for him who shall have borne the 
battle, and for his widow and orphans; to do all which may achieve and 
cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. — 
Abraham Lincoln. 

Be just and fear not; let the ends thou aim'st at, be thy country's, thy 
God's and truth's. — Shakespeare. 

We regret being unable, on this occasion, to follow the counsel of our 
masters, the French, but the American flag has been forced to retire. This 
is unendurable and none of our soldiers would understand not being asked 
. to do whatever is necessary to repair a situation which is humiliating to 
us and unacceptable to our country's honor. We are going to counter- 
attack. — An American general in the second Battle of the Marne, igi8. 

ft ft 



Weekly Exercises. 

Each week at least one hour should be devoted to essays, 
recitations, a talk by the teacher, or other special exercises on 
what America is, what America has done, what America hopes 
to be. This may best be done generally by making the sug- 
gestion turn round some person or event in our national life; 
some patriotic anniversary or the birthday of some distin- 
guished American or some recent action of our Government. 

ft ft 

Patriotic Anniversary Dates. 

Date. Subject. 

February 12 Lincoln. 

February 22 Washington. 

March 4 President's Day — Inaugural Day. 

April 6 World's War — America's entrance 

into the Great War. 

May 30 Memorial Day. 

June 14 Flag Day. 

July 4 Declaration of Independence. 

September, first Monday Labor Day. 

October 12 , Discovery of America. 

November, first Tuesday after first 

Monday Election Day. 



PAGE NINE 



Birthdays. 

Among other days which may be celebrated are the birthdays 
of the great inventors of the country, our painters and sculptors, 
our men of letters, our scientists and explorers. For America 
is more than a land of political independence and freedom — it is 
a land in which men have been raised who have contributed 
richly to the world's thought, knowledge, and ideals; men who 
have added to the beauty of life as well as its material comfort 
and its physical wealth. (No names of those still living are in- 
cluded nor is this list intended to be exhaustive.) 

NOVELISTS. 

April 3, Edward Everett Hale; April 10, Lew Wallace; June 
3, Henry James; July 4, Nathaniel Hawthorne; August 2, 
F. Marion Crawford; September 15, James Fenimore Cooper; 
December 16, Mary Hartwell Catherwood. 

HISTORIANS. 

March 30, John Fiske; April 15, John Lothrop Motley; May 4, 
William Hickling Prescott; May 5, George Bancroft; September 
16, Francis Parkman; December 10, Edward Eggleston. 

POETS. 

January 19, Edgar Allen Poe; February 22, James Russell 
Lowell; February 27, Henry Wads worth Longfellow; May 26, 
Ralph Waldo Emerson; May 27, Julia Ward Howe; May 31, 
Walt Whitman; June 2, John Godfrey Saxe; August 20, Oliver 
Wendell Holmes; September 2, Eugene Field; October 6, James 
Whitcomb Riley; December 12, John Greenleaf Whittier. 

PAINTERS. 

January 5, George Inness; February 24, Winslow Homer; 
July 10, James Abbott McNeal Whistler; November 25, Henry 
vSargent. 

SCULPTORS. 

March 1, Augustus Saint-Gaudens; October 4, Frederic 
Remington. 



PAGE TEN 



STATESMEN. 

January u, Alexander Hamilton; January 17, Benjamin 
Franklin; January 18, Daniel Webster; January 29, William 
McKinley; January 31, James G. Blaine; February 12, Abraham 
Lincoln; February 22, George Washington; March 2, Carl 
Schurz; March 18, Grover Cleveland; March 18, John C. Calhoun; 
April 2, Thomas Jefferson; April 12, Henry Clay; April 27, 
Ulysses S. Grant; April 28, James Monroe; July 1 1, John Adams; 
September 24, John Marshall; November 19, James A. Garfield. 

INVENTORS. 

April 27, Morse, the telegraph; July 9, Howe, the sewing 
machine; July 31, Ericsson, the Monitor; December 8, Whitney, 
the cotton gin; June 21, McCormick, the reaper. 

NATURALISTS. 

May 4, John James Audubon; May 28, Louis Agassiz; July 
12, Henry David Thoreau; August 14, Ernest Seton -Thompson ; 
April 21, John Muir. 

FOREIGN BORN. 

January 11, Alexander Hamilton; January 12, John Singer 
Sargent; January 29, Albert Gallatin; March 1, Augustus Saint- 
Gaudens; March 2, Carl Schurz; May 28, Louis Agassiz; 
July 31, John Ericsson; October 6, Marie Joseph Lafayette; 
November 15, Frederick William Steuben; November 16, Franz 
Sigel; September 16, James J. Hill. 

MUSICIANS. 

January 8, Lowell Mason; March 10, Dudley Buck; July 4, 
Samuel Foster; November 24, Ethelbert Nevin. 

EXPLORERS. 

January 1, John C. Fremont, California; March 24, John 
Wesley Powell, Colorado; April 13, Simon Kenton, Ohio; June 
10, Henry Morton Stanley, South Africa; August 1, William 
Clarke, Northwest Columbia River; August 17, Davy Crockett, 
Texas; August 18, Meriwether Lewis, Northwest Columbia 
River; November 2, Daniel Boone, Kentucky; April 21, John 
Muir, Northwest "Muir Glacier." 



PAGE ELEVEN 



